Fallen Comrade
by GirHugs
Summary: (Alternate Universe - Daemons, Age of Ultron Compliant) It wasn't until the engineer made a weak, wounded sound and collapsed to the ground in a mess of limbs that they even realized something was horribly wrong.


**A/N** : Just a quick little fic I wrote about Jarvis being Tony's daemon. (I never actually read Pullman's works, so I could be way off in my portrayal of the daemon-verse, but I do like reading fanfics with daemons so I wanted to give it a shot)

Implied Steve/Tony, but more of pre-relationship so can be read as gen or m/m.

* * *

No one noticed the way Tony's normally olive skin paled to a stark white, everyone too focused on the figure slowly rising up as Thor backed away. It wasn't until the engineer made a weak wounded sound and collapsed to the ground in a mess of limbs that they even realized something was horribly wrong.

The newly made being swept the engineer up off the floor, brushed a hand across a workbench to clear it, and laid Tony back down atop it gently. The being rested one hand over Tony's forehead and the other over his heart. When its hand started glowing, the rest of the team was finally shocked into action.

"Back away from him!" Steve ordered, lifting his shield and readying himself to attack and defend his vulnerable teammate. Beside him, Sonaria's soft white fur bristled, her narrow jaw dropping open to flash sharp teeth.

"If I stop now, your comrade will die," the being spoke calmly, voice startlingly familiar with its British lilt.

From her perch atop a bookshelf, Gwendolyn's head was swiveling back and forth as she tried to lock in on Tony's heartbeat.

"His heart rate is slow, thready." Gwendolyn looked towards Bruce, eyes big and worried.

"Jarvis?" Bruce stepped forward, eyes on the being who spoke with Jarvis's voice.

"I am not Jarvis," the being informed them, face calm and placid despite the intensity shining in his eyes, gaze never straying from Tony's prone form beneath his hands.

"What are you doing to him?" Steve demanded, less concerned about who or what the being was, only worried about what was happening to Tony.

"I cannot…" Sonaria brushed up against Steve's side, nudging his hand with her giant head as she sought contact. "I cannot feel Tony's daemon anymore."

"What? His daemon's gone?" Bruce looked sick at Sonaria's comment and the rest of the team froze in shock.

"When the Asgardian inserted the Mind Stone, I came into being and unknowingly absorbed Jarvis into myself," the being's voice was apologetic, the glow of his hands surging brighter and Tony jerked upwards, gasping in pain. "I am now trying to push the remains of the daemon's essence into Mr. Stark's body."

"Wait," Steve felt his knees going weak at the revelation, Sonaria leaning against his legs to keep him upright. "Jarvis is Tony's daemon?"

None of them knew anything about Tony's daemon, had never seen the creature or heard Tony even mention it. It's name and form weren't even disclosed in SHIELD's file on Tony. All the team daemons had reassured their humans that they could very much _feel_ Tony's daemon close by in the tower and that the unknown daemon felt safe, trustworthy, so the team had figured Tony and his daemon would reveal themselves after they learned to trust the team. Besides, Tony's mystery daemon was certainly less strange than getting used to the idea that Thor's 'daemon' resided within the god himself.

"Was," the being gently corrected. "Jarvis is gone. I regrettably absorbed too much of him before I realized what was happening. But upon becoming conscious of Jarvis's true nature, I stopped the process of assimilation and retained enough of his essence apart from myself that if I can manage to transfer it into Mr. Stark, then your teammate may yet survive."

"Is that even possible?" Natasha asked quietly, white-knuckled grip curled into Samot's grey, marbled fur.

Tony jerked again, a horrifying scream ripping from his throat, limbs knocking the being's hands back. Steve moved forward quickly, gently but firmly laying a restraining arm across Tony's upper body. Thor had already moved forward to hold Tony's kicking legs down. "If I succeed," the being continued as Tony was held steady, hands returning to their positions over heart and head. "Mr. Stark will be more similar to an Asgardian, in a sense, housing his _self_ within."

"Okay," Steve gave a shaky nod, blinking back tears when Tony gave another heart-wrenching scream. He could feel the heat pulsing from Tony's skin even through the worn denim jeans and the engineer writhed under his and Thor's hold. "But he will survive, right?"

The being did not answer, simply pressed his lips into a grim, thin line and renewed his attempts at transference. Tony writhed, emitting sad, weak little sounds. His eyes darted around wildly beneath closed eyelids, drops of sweat beaded up from his skin and soon his shirt was soaked through.

Sonaria padded closer, jumping up to leverage her forelegs against the workbench. She rested her head atop the table, muzzle puffing out warm breaths against Tony's damp neck. A deep, soothing rumbling sound emitted from her chest, mixing with the near-silent pleas falling from Steve's lips.

A bright flash surged through the lab, and Tony gave one last hoarse scream before going terrifyingly still. Steve choked on a sob, fingers shaking as he felt along Tony's neck, searching for a pulse.

"He is alive," the being reassured just as Steve found Tony's slow, weak pulse. "But he is very close to the edge of death. So long as his body does not reject the essence, he should survive, though, I fear he will never be as strong as he once was."

The being stepped back, letting the team crowd closer, their hands running along Tony's face, neck, and chest to reassure themselves that he was breathing, that he was alive. No one commented on how Sonaria pushed her head against Tony's limp hand hanging off the side of the workbench, their eyes carefully averted from the intimate moment.

"I believe there is a threat that still must be dealt with," the being spoke after a few minutes. "Ultron intends to do great harm to this world."

"We can't just leave him like this," Steve argued weakly, aware of just how important it was to stop Ultron, but desperate not to leave Tony's side when he was still so close to death.

"I can stay and look after him," Bruce offered, Gwendolyn puffing out her feathers at the idea of leaving Tony alone and so very vulnerable.

"I believe we have need of your other counterpart, Dr. Banner. Your team will already be short a fighter; Ultron may yet succeed if you do not join us," the being moved close to Tony once more, his eyes scanning the engineer's unconscious form as if he were able to see something the rest of them could not. "Mr. Stark is stable enough." He looked up at the people gathered, assessing and calm. "Call upon medical services to come look after your teammate, but we must go stop Ultron now."

"I can take him to a hospital," Pietro stepped forward, his sister nodding her head in approval behind him. "The closest one is merely twenty blocks from here. I can take him and be back before your team has finished preparations for our departure."

"You'll fight with us?" Clint raised a skeptic eyebrow, unsure if their offer was trustworthy.

"We will," Wanda stepped up next to her brother. "I have seen what Ultron intends to do, the destruction he wishes to bring. We will help you stop him."

"Thank you," Steve said, voice grateful and relieved. Having more fighters on their side, especially considering Iron Man's status, would help them a lot in the upcoming battle.

"Jar-" The team startled at the weak gasp, turning to see wet tears sliding down Tony's cheeks. "Jarvis?" The engineer croaked, voice choked and agonized.

"Tony?" Steve stepped forward quickly, kneeling down beside the workbench and grasping onto Tony's hand. "Tony can you hear me?"

"Steve?" Tony turned his head, eyes wide and wild, panicked. "Steve…I can't feel him." His breathing started to quicken, chest heaving and shaky. "I can't _feel_ him."

The being stepped around Steve and laid a gentle hand on Tony's head. Tony immediately went lax, eyes slipping shut and breathing evening out. His mouth was still twisted down, brow scrunched into a frown.

"He's asleep," the being reassured Steve when the Captain turned to him with a panicked look. "His body needs rest and his mind is not ready to accept his new reality. He is better off unconscious, for now."

Steve nodded in understanding before levering himself to his feet and waving Pietro forward. The team watched worriedly as Maximoff carefully lifted their teammate into his arms and then disappeared in a blur. Thor stepped up to their Captain and clasped a big hand around Steve's shoulder.

"He will survive this," Thor spoke lowly, squeezing Steve's tense shoulder in comfort. "Once we defeat Ultron, I shall ask my realm's healers for help in treating Anthony."

"Okay," Steve allowed himself a moment, fingers curling into Sonaria's thick fur and absorbing her strength. With a decisive nod, he turned to assess his team, took in the shaken but battle-ready looks on their faces. "Okay," his voice turned more commanding, his posture straightening out and head lifting. "Let's go take Ultron down."

"For Jarvis," Sonaria flashed her sharp teeth in a wolfish grin, body thrumming with pent up rage and sorrow.

Steve let her wild emotions flow through him, let them bolster his own desperate need to tear Ultron apart. "For Tony."

* * *

Daemons mentioned:

Steve's daemon - Sonaria, white wolf  
Natasha's daemon - Somat, snow leopard  
Bruce's daemon - Gwendolyn, barn owl  
Tony's daemon - Jarvis, "AI" (I read somewhere that bonds can be severed to create the Dark Material's version of electricity...so building off of that, I basically decided that Jarvis had settled into the form of pure electricity and inserted himself into computers, he would essentially present as an AI to the rest of the world because he does in fact have his own personality and ability to think)


End file.
